Direction indicator



' 'Spt v22, 1925.

. F. l.,v GATCHET DIRECTION INDICATOR Filed Jan. 21, 1920 llh i -VVN 1Patented Sept. 22, i925.

UNITED* STATES" IItANcIs I.. GATCIIET; or SEATTLE, WASHINGTON. I

nInneTIoN INDICATOR.

lApplication iled January 21,.1920. -Serial No. 353,022. t

To aZZ whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, FRANCIS L.Gr'IioHrxe,A

a citizen of the United States, and resident. of the city of Seattle,county of King, and

State of "l/Vashington, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements:in Di 'ection Indicators, ofA which 'the following isa specification.My Invention relates to devlces'which are intended for use as combined.-ta1l an`d-s1g -nal lights for automobiles.

The object ofmyinvention is toprovide a 'device which normally, may beemployed' as a tail light for automobiles and which,

when desired, may be employed -for indicat- -ing the direction in whichthe driver Vcontemplates turning, thereby serving as a` sig-' locatedtowards the endsv ofthe box. *Two nal or warning light.

' scribed and then particularly denedby the The -featuresfof myinvention which 4:I deem -to-be new and upon whichI desire to securepatent protection, will first bedeclaims.

In the accompanying drawings- I. have shown my invention embodied 'inthetype' of construction :which I `now most prefer' to use.

Figure 1 is a horizontall the device..

seetiak thi-ugh Figure 2 'is an elevation of the .device,.

. showing the/signal face, or thatwhichis from that shown in Figurel.

placed rearwardly when mountedI upon a,

FigureS is a horizontal section through .a

construction which varies only slightly my ginven- The most distinctivefeatureof i tion consists in employing a box havin@ a series ofcompartments, foreach of whic a light is provided, two of these lights,being `so located that each will illuminate twoad jacentcompartments,while the third' light is placed so that it can illuminateonly onecompartment. With such a constructionit is possible, by controlling thecurrent to the respective lights, to illuminate either :the

central compartment or the centralY compartment together with either ofthe end compartments, and thereby to produce sig? nals indicatinga turn.in either direction, or a plain warning light of the-nature of theordinary tail ligh The signal a box, as 1. The surfacevv of this boxwhich is` visible from the rear, is closed only ,by a glass 2, whichglass is preferably a ground apparatus 1s 'contained within 5 rjfrostedglass. I Upon the' inner surfacev Lof this glass is painted or otherwiseprovided, an arrow-20, orother warning indication.- Thiswouldpreferably/"be of a dis-` tinctive` color, as red. This arrow isprovided vwith two he ads,' one at each end,` and is thusa. doubleheaded arrow.

If this' 4 `arrow bea-illuminated except I 'or one head,

.it .will indicate .the direction in which it isA the intention of thedriverto turn. By

control of theflighting 'of the lamps, either box. One of. these, asli0`ht'30, is located y l centrallyoi'. the box, while the others arepartitions, 4r' and 40, are placed within the box. andextend from, oradjacent to the glass 2, back towardsthe'lights 3 and.4 31,.

respectively, stoppin alittle short of the lights. In other wor s, thesepartitions are 4so placed that the-end lightsare in line with thepartitions, whereby these vend lights are enabled to illuminate thecompartments at both sidesof its respective compartments j10 and 11,while light .31will illuminate i compartments 11 vand'12.v -The positionof the partitions tand 40 with `relation. to the centralflight 30, issuch that'it can illuminate only-the central compartment 11.l

'Iheglights 3, k30 and 31, are controlled in located so asftobeundercontrol'of the .driven As the manner andthe mechanism fordoingthis fis something which. may be their illumination by -a switchorswitches,

provided by any person familiar with inj vstruction of the same is notherein. shown attempted. It= will suflice to A say .that the resultldesired, is the yillumination .of one. only of these lamps at a time,or the jointy illumination of thecentral light along with i one or theother, but 'not both, of the end l' The" manner of connecting theselights. lamps 1s immaterial, so long as the result mentioned 1s secured.

I prefer to provide thebox with a flange,

.as 13, extending from one side thereof, in a vertical direction, thisbeing intended for securing the Vbox to the car or for securing 110 fvthereto a vlicense plate, as 5, or for accomplishing both purposes. Asherein shown,

this flange 13 extends .downwardly and the stallation of electricapparatus the con-- ios license plate Ais secured thereto by bolts orIThis will'make visible the head of the arrow 'which is at' that end ofthe box, thus giving Lzo ' 4als screws 50. This license plate maybeillumi- `nated through' a slot, as 51,'placed inthe 'wallA of the boXwhich is 'towards the plate 5.

In operatingmy device the central light .30 may be continuouslyilluminated This will illuminate the portion of the glass plate 2,'whichextends between the outer edges ofv the partitions 4 and- 40. If it bedesired by the driver to turn to the right, he will so handlehisswitchas to illuminate` thecompartment 12, .by turning on'the light 3L awarning signal.

turned on, which will illuminate the'compartment l0. lf it is hisintention to proceed straight ahead he will turn theswitch so lthat onlythe'light-BO is illuminated. i

The' switch and its 'connections maybe such thateit will provide currentto one only of the lamps at a time.l lVhen'thelamp 30 only isilluminatedonly the central portion of the stafi'v of the arrowisvisible,`this would .would .not show.

*of the: transparent area.

-V Signed at'Seattle, llashing'ton,l this 31st 'day of December, 1919.

consist onlyof 'a broad red band." The two l heads ofthe arrow and thatportion of the shaft which' liesoutside of the two 'partitions Vitheither of the .side lightson thi'scentral part of the arrow shaft andthehead atthat side will show.

VVhat'I claim-as new is:`

1. A signal device comprising a lamp hous- .ing having a light slotextending through the rear wall thereof, said light slot having direction indications formed as continua-y tions of each end thereof; apair of lamps dis- -posed within the housingv and near the opposite endsof saidslot, and baffle means wherebythe lighting of one lamp willilluminate :the center ofthe slot and one end thereof. If 'it be hisdesire or intention to'turn. to the left, the light. is'y ZA signaldevice comprising a housing, a .transparentr area 1n one wall of Lthehousing; said transparent area being 1n the form of a central sectionhaving indicating heads FRANCIS L. GATCHET.

pairo lamps in'the housing,`and means l

